This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.

Possible association found between HCV, P. falciparum infections

Ouwe-Missi-Oukem-Boyer O. PLoS One. 2011;doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0016034.

Issue: July 2011

Add topic to email alerts

Receive an email when new articles are posted on

Please provide your email address to receive an email when new articles are posted on .

Subscribe

Added to email alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

Back to Healio

We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com.

Back to Healio

New findings suggest a possible epidemiological interaction between hepatitis C virus and Plasmodium falciparum infections. Age was a key factor in this association and hepatitis C virus led to slower emergence of P. falciparum in the blood, according to Odile Ouwe-Missi-Oukem-Boyer, PhD, and colleagues.

In the pilot study, researchers assigned 319 volunteer participants, aged 13 to 85 years, residing in Dienga, Central Africa, to a curative antimalarial treatment. Microscopy and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were used to monitor the emergence of P. falciparum in participants’ blood every 2 weeks for 1 year duration.

At inclusion, 65 participants tested positive for malaria parasites; 61 were HCV chronic carriers; 36 were HBV chronic carriers; and P. falciparum was detected in 203 patients at 1-year follow-up. Of those with P. falciparum, 25 were HBV carriers and 28 were HCV carriers. Most HBV carriers were younger than 30 years; the likelihood of HCV infection increased significantly with age.

Median time to P. falciparum emergence in blood was 140 days and 120 days in HBV-negative and HBV-positive participants, and 135 days and 224 days in HCV-negative and HCV-positive participants, respectively. Compared with those without HCV infection, HCV carriage was associated with a slower emergence of P. falciparum infection in the blood.

“HCV carrier status but not HBV carrier status was significantly associated with slower emergence of malaria parasites in univariate analysis, along with older age and self-medication,” the researchers wrote. “The relation with HCV carrier status was confirmed in multivariate analysis, although the P value was just above the threshold of significance. As age is a confounding factor, the influence of HCV infection on the natural course of P. falciparum malaria would be best examined in a case-control study.”

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.

Follow InfectiousDiseaseNews.com on Twitter.